Detroit Free Press sues for economic development records

The Detroit Free Press has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to compel the Michigan Department of Treasury to disclose documents related to economic development subsidies.

Sam Allard of Axios reports, “The big beneficiary of those subsidies has been Dan Gilbert, who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers but whose Rock family of companies — including real estate arm Bedrock — is headquartered in Detroit.

“‘The lawsuit seeks information that is key to understanding whether developers such as Bedrock do ultimately achieve the lofty expectations for their biggest projects,’ Free Press business reporter JC Reindl wrote.

“Past reporting and personal observations, to say nothing of Cleveland’s enduring poverty, have demonstrated that the trickle-down prosperity envisioned by these projects has not been locally achieved.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.